MURAL - Maynooth University Research Archive Library



    Tactile topologies of the rural


    Fraser, Alistair (2017) Tactile topologies of the rural. Journal of Rural Studies, 56. pp. 198-206. ISSN 0743-0167

    [img]
    Preview
    Download (338kB) | Preview


    Share your research

    Twitter Facebook LinkedIn GooglePlus Email more...



    Add this article to your Mendeley library


    Abstract

    Innovative and exciting research by critical human geographers has brought tactility into focus. Seen against the backdrop of recent theorizing about power topologies, the prospect of novel analyses of contact, touch, and intimacy raises demanding questions for spatial theory. Action in rural space deserves attention within this emerging literature: if ‘tactile topologies’ are constitutive of space, a matter for research is how they emerge – and are drawn upon and re-produced – in the rural. This article's intervention is based on an exploration of the centrality of tactility to topological transformations in rural space during the first years of the Union of South Africa. Using archival materials alongside diverse contributions from historians, the article demonstrates how ‘tactile topologies of the rural’ animated and therefore shaped a wide range of calculations and actions. By focusing on ‘intra-actions’ between human and non-human actors within numerous ‘microcalities,’ the article prompts scholars in rural studies to imagine how a focus on tactility might enrich analyses of a wide range of other topological scenes.

    Item Type: Article
    Keywords: Tactile topologies; Power topologies; Rurality; The state; South Africa; Herbert Gladstone;
    Academic Unit: Faculty of Social Sciences > Geography
    Item ID: 11540
    Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2017.10.002
    Depositing User: Alistair Fraser
    Date Deposited: 30 Oct 2019 15:58
    Journal or Publication Title: Journal of Rural Studies
    Publisher: Elsevier
    Refereed: Yes
    URI:
    Use Licence: This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

    Repository Staff Only(login required)

    View Item Item control page

    Downloads

    Downloads per month over past year

    Origin of downloads